Doumbé stops Grigorian, reclaims Welterweight title

GLORY Kickboxing’s first trip to Strasbourg, France was headlined by a welterweight title clash between Armenian champion Harut Grigorian (48-11, 33 KO’s) and former champion Cédric Doumbé (71-6-1, 41 KO’s) of France, according to glorykickboxing.com.

The champion took the center of the ring to open the bout. Doumbé scored with leg kicks, but was backed against the ropes.

Grigorian landed a knee in the clinch and Doumbé answered with a right hand behind the ear. Doumbé was very active with his footwork, avoiding the power shots of the champion. The leg kicks of Doumbé landed with regularity as the stanza came to an end.

Doumbé’s assault on the legs of Grigorian continued in round two. The champion looked for his overhand right, but was caught with a counter left hook from Doumbé. An initial trip to the canvas by Grigorian was ruled a slip, but Doumbé followed with heavy shots and earned a knockdown.

When Grigorian recovered Doumbé fired a knee that wobbled Grigorian further. Doumbé backed Grigorian into the corner and unloaded. The referee ruled a knockdown and Doumbé thought the fight was over, entering the crowd to celebrate.

After nearly a minute, Doumbé realized his error and returned to the ring. Grigorian was able to survive, but only for a second. Another barrage from the Frenchman put Grigorian down a final time and Doumbé recaptured the welterweight title.

“Under GLORY rules, I know there is no standing count, so I thought it was over,” said Doumbé of his gaffe. “Before the fight, I kept thinking about my mom. When I knocked him the f*ck out, all I could do was think about saying thank you to my mom.

“My team told me not to look for a KO. I just wanted to play with him in the first round. I proved I am the stronger guy.”